Scarred Flames
by Kurasabe
Summary: They've accepted a lot of children in the guild lately, though they've never met one that used to be in an semi-dark Guild, founded by their Master's ex-wife. but the most shocking part, besides his pink hair, had to be the innocent blonde girl he had with him. Let's hope he didn't kidnap her along the way. (slight OOC Natsu, pairing undecided)


**Year X779**

It was just your average day in Fairy Tail. There were the usual conversations, challenges, brawls and a 13 year old, almost completely naked Gray Fullbuster just got his ass kicked by a stranger wearing a cloak that covers his face, and said stranger is pinning him down and pointing a knife at his neck… wait, that isn't normal at all.

The guild suddenly turned quiet and everyone looked at the two strangers. One is at the moment pinning a struggling Gray on the ground, the hood of his cloak covering his face in shadows, leaving only his mouth and chin visible. The other figure seems a bit smaller and more petite, and looks nervously around, trying to make itself look smaller and unnoticeable in the process. After a few moments, a chair is heard scraping against the floor and the respected (more like feared) Erza Scarlet walks to the newcomers. She may not show it, but she is curious as well as to who these strangers are. But maybe she should help her guild mate first.

"You, let go of Gray right now!" She commands in a tone that leaves no room for any arguments.

"Why should I?" The guild looks surprised at the boy. Did he not know who he was defying?! Erza grew annoyed, not used to people questioning her 'suggestions'.

"Because I told you to. Now let him go before I make you." She says annoyed. First Mirajane screws with her strawberry cake, and now there's someone defying her iron clad rule of order! It's truly not a good day to cross Titania.

"Then, if a stranger tells me to jump off a bridge should I do that as well because 'he told me so'?" The stranger asks, mocking her by using her own words.

"No, you shouldn't listen to people who order you without giving a decent reason."

"Then why should I listen to you? You never gave me a good reason to let the pervert go." The stranger says now with a smirk on his face.

"Hey, I object to the pervert part!" Gray shouted out annoyed.

"E-excuse me, but where are your clothes?" the smaller cloaked person asks politely, her soft voice giving away that she's a girl. Gray looks confused before feeling a breeze.

"I'm only wearing my boxers right now ,huh?" he asked tiredly, like he already knew the answer. He saw the guild nodding as one person.

"Goddammit, not again. Could you please let me go so that I can go and look for my clothes?" Gray asked in a tone that signaled defeat. The stranger stood up and sheathed his knife before offering the Ice mage a hand. Gray pulled himself up with a little help and walked around, trying to find his clothes. Erza looked angry now. Not only was she ignored and ridiculed, but the stranger let go of Gray after he asked it.

"Are you mocking me with your actions?" Erza asks with rage and the promise of pain in her voice. The stranger looks a bit bored at her for a few seconds before answering.

"If I were making fun of you, I would have said something about your tin can cosplay." The stranger says a bit amused. The guild froze in fear for what the boy had unleashed upon them. Something even more fearsome than the most dangerous missions they had undertaken so far. He had pissed off the Titania of Fairy Tail. Well, everyone except for two people. Mirajane Strauss is laughing in the background at what the boy said and Laxus Dreyar is now officially curious as to who is so crazy to insult Erza.

"What did you call my armor?" Erza asks with a furious glare. Nobody insults her or her armor without suffering at her hands… or buying her a lot of strawberry cake, whichever comes first. That is, if they could outrun her long enough to find a bakery. So yeah, the most common response is being sent to the hospital in a bloody heap. Sure, she's only wearing a breast plate and shoulder pads and the leather straps that are holding up the breast plate are an easy target for someone skilled with knives but that's not the point Mavis be damned! It's still armor, even though it's crudely made. The blacksmith who created it should be ashamed of itself.

"That must be the most ineffective armor I've ever seen. I can easily use it to disable your movements." The stranger says amused.

"Care to back up that claim?" Erza asks with her sword drawn, a challenging smirk plastered on her face. This gives her the perfect excuse to maim the fool who insults her and her armor! The girl looks a bit afraid and tugs the sleeve of her companion.

"Are you sure you're up to it? after all-"

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." the boy cuts her gently off. "How about you see if we can get some food here before doing what we came for?" he says in a kind tone. The girl nods hesitantly and walks towards the bar. Everyone looks a bit curious at the sudden display of affection, but Erza isn't interested in it at the moment. She would rather punish the brat that insulted her. She draws her sword and points it at the stranger.

"Come at me if you dare, I'll make you regret saying those words." She says in a venomous tone. The boy just shrugs and pulls out his knife again, holding it in a reversed grip. His stance is relaxed and motions with his free hand for her to come over.

"Ladies first."

Now, most people were silently praying for the poor soul who didn't take her seriously. But there were some who took this opportunity to place some bets, most ( all but one actually) in favor of Erza. The girl rushed towards the offender, sword ready to strike him down. She swung it down, making sure he would be hit with the blunt edge of the sword, so that she could 'discipline' him longer without having to worry about something silly as blood loss. The boy raised his arm and blocked the sword at the last moment with a grunt, with the steel arm guard he hid under his cloak. Using the moment that Erza was distracted, the boy punched her in the face before slicing through the unprotected leather straps that held her armor up and her shirt, letting it slide down and trap her legs, making it a hindrance for the Requip mage. She growled in annoyance before jumping out of the breast plate sending her own punch in the boy's chest, making him stumble backwards. When she retracted her fist, she saw a bit of blood smearing her hand. Confused she took a better look at the boy, and saw a some bandages hidden under his clothes. The boy scoffed before sheathing his knife and taking off his cloak. What they saw was a boy with salmon hair and hollow onyx eyes that looks to be around the age of most children in Fairy Tail, wearing nothing but white pants and sandals. He had two sheathed knifes hanging on his belt and a few throwing knifes were held in straps on the inside of his armguards, made of red steel. But what grabbed most attention were the bandages all over his upper body and right eye. Blood was leaking through some of them and they seemed to be a few days old. The boy scoffed and went into a fighting stance with a grin.

"I'm all-" he couldn't say any more as he had to dodge a shot from a Magic Gun, coming from his travel companion.

"Natsu Dragneel, what did I say about fighting when your wounds aren't healed yet?!" the girl screamed angrily. Natsu paled for a bit and held up his hands.

"Come on Luce, it's just a friendly brawl." He says with a shaky smile while Lucy marches towards him, her anger manifesting itself as an aura around her.

"I don't care, we're going to the infirmary right now to clean those wounds!" she shouted in his face.

"Oh come on, it's not that-"

"I said NOW! Or would you like me to summon Aquarius so she can flush you out again?"

"Aye sir!" Natsu yelled in a squeaky voice. The girl pulled down her hood and looked at Erza. She had shiny blond hair and warm, brown eyes.

"Excuse me, but do you mind if we use your infirmary for a bit?" Lucy asks in a polite and sweet tone while pointing a golden key at Natsu.

"Sure, it's the stairway in the right corner." Erza says automatically, somehow going along with the situation. Lucy nods and grabs Natsu by his neck before dragging him to the infirmary.

"It's always the same with you, you never stop and think about your health. Didn't you listen to the doctor when he said you needed rest to let your eye recover?" Lucy complains to Natsu, who follows her obediently.

"What? I'm letting my eye rest, just like you told me to. And besides, it's just a few scratches." Natsu complains.

"Scratches don't leave scars."

"They do if you rub salt in them."

"Really? I didn't THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT!" Lucy roared while she kicked Natsu inside and closed the door. Everyone looked confused around for a few seconds before Mira decided to break the silence.

"Huh, didn't know about the salt part." She comments before turning her attention to her rival. "But still, a wounded kid managed to pin the stripper down, punch you in the face and use your armor against you. That's got to hurt your pride." She taunts Erza hoping to get a rise out of her. But the insult was ignored for the first time.

"Did you see his eyes?" Erza asked Mira seriously. Mira looked confused before answering.

"No, what of it?" she asked irritated. Why wasn't she getting angry, she got excited from the fight and wanted to brawl, dammit!

"I've seen those eyes in only one other place. That's look of someone who had to cast away everything in order to survive." Erza said with a faraway look. Mira thought back to the day Erza set foot in the guild, covered in bruises and a tattered dress, scanning the guild for threats with a dazed eye. The only emotional reaction she got out of Erza the first six months was when she taunted her and they started fighting. And no, she didn't stop when Erza warmed a bit up to the guild, she enjoyed their fights too much. Not that she'd admit it of course, that would be suicide of her awesome punk/goth personality.

"I see." Was all that Mira muttered before heading to the bar and taking the food the girl, Luce she thinks the girl was called, and headed to the infirmary. Everybody looked surprised when she went upstairs, but Erza had a small hidden smile.

"The fuck are you looking at?" growled Mira with a killer intent, making everyone back away a bit. Satisfied she kicked open the door, only to drop her jaw in surprise.

"Holy shit!" was all she said before closing the door and going inside.

* * *

When Natsu and Lucy entered the infirmary, he sat quietly down on one of the beds, took off his arm guards and put them besides him, making sure he could reach the throwing knifes if necessary. Lucy was rummaging through the drawers and shelves, taking everything she needed to treat his wounds. When she returned she nodded to Natsu, who began happily tearing off the itchy bandages.

"finally I get rid of them, they really annoyed me." he said happily before pointing a finger to the pile of used bandages with a devious grin.

"Don't even think about it Natsu." Lucy said without looking at him, inspecting his wounds. His torso was covered in gashes and slices, some bleeding a bit thanks to his earlier brawl. Lucy sighed before starting to disinfect them. There were a few on his back as well, but they were pretty shallow.

"They're all healing nicely, but I think the big X is going to become a scar. Same with the one on your left shoulder." She says sadly while looking at a nasty wound on the lower right side of his body, carefully stitched with fireproof thread that was usually used for dangerous wounded animals who use fire. Why? Because he tried to burn his stitches and scorch the wound close once. Lucy took a fresh roll of bandages and thought about she could best apply it while looking sadly at the wounds. Natsu noticed this and patted her head.

"Don't worry, they'll heal. Besides, it wasn't your fault that they happened. Hell, you weren't even there when I got those." He says with a comforting smile. Lucy wanted to say something, but got cut off when the door opened. They saw a white haired girl clad in a black tank top that exposed her stomach and tiny black shorts that barely covered her rear, the rest of her legs covered with black stockings that nearly reached the shorts and combat boots, looking a shocked at Natsu.

"Holy shit!" was all she shouted before kicking the door shut and putting a plate with food down on a nearby table.

"Blond girl, you go and start eating already." Mira said while pushing Lucy to the food, ignoring the unimportant things that came out of her mouth like 'i have a name' and such. She took the roll of bandages and put it right beside Natsu for the moment, noticing the fact that his hand was laying pretty close to the knives in his arm guards.

'What the hell has he been through to get like that?' Mira thought a bit worried for some reason. Shrugging off the feeling, she grabbed some kind of salve that Porlyusica made for them sometimes in case someone cut themselves. And in a guild of daredevil drunks that happens more often then they'd like to admit. She turned back and saw that Natsu was holding a knife in his hand, ready to strike if necessary. Mira looked a bit confused at him before looking at his travel companion.

"Does he do that often?" Mira asked her. Lucy turned her head to look and just sighed.

"He's always like that when a stranger tries to be nice and wants to patch him up." Lucy said before looking at Natsu. "Can't you just let yourself get treated here? Elena-san trusts these people so we shouldn't be worrying about whether or not the salve was mixed with a paralyzing toxin." She says in a tired tone, like they've had this conversation before.

"I used to trust her guild as well and look what that got me." Natsu retorted in a bitter tone.

"Who the fuck is Elena?" Mira wondered out loud.

"Elena Dreyar, she's the ex-wife of your current Master."

**And that's the end of the first chapter. not Much has been explained yet (Obviously since this chapter is more of a teaser) but answers will come next chapter! That and i still have to decide on a pairing. I'd love to hear which pairing you want to see, but please give valid reasons, not just 'OMG, pair him with x, cuz they so blong tgeter Lololol.' **

**Anyways, this is Kurasabe signing out. I hope you enjoyed the story**


End file.
